The Darkling's Surrender Read online

She saw Gavin blink at the ease with which she moved the item, when he’d grumpily asked for help…and he was no weakling. She’d seen the muscles of his arms under the short sleeves of his scrub shirt. He was lean, but he was also ripped.

  Leaning backward so that her weight rested on her elbows, Aubrey stared at Gavin, unabashed. “I’ve had to reevaluate my life. Being sick…changed me. And now all I can do is work with what’s left.”

  She wanted him to come closer. Wanted him to touch her. She could’ve just grabbed him and torn her teeth into his neck, but she wanted him to come to her willingly.

  She wouldn’t do this, wouldn’t do any of this, unless he was at least partially willing. Which was probably why Malcolm had told her to hunt only those who were strangers to her.

  It was too late. She’d caught the scent of her prey, and like a decadent fudge brownie to a dieter, she could think of nothing else.

  She would have him inside her, just as she’d wanted him for months. And while he was inside her, she would taste his blood. She’d drink, she’d grow strong.

  And then she’d make him forget that any of it had ever happened.

  * * *

  Gavin was horribly confused. Dr. Aubrey Hart, the resident who’d abruptly dropped out of her residency weeks earlier, was lying against the back of his van with a confidence he’d never seen even a hint of before, and her body language was screaming at him to take what he’d tried not to think about taking from her before.

  He wasn’t sure that he believed that she’d been sick. It was more like she’d had a complete personality transplant. But if he’d found her skittishness cute before—in a forbidden, can’t-ever-act-on-it kind of way—he found her new seduce-me attitude sexy as hell.

  He liked strong women. They were difficult, they were demanding and they were a hell of a lot work, true, but they also challenged him.

  What kind of man would he be if he wanted some sweet young thing who would just acquiesce to his every desire?

  That was why he’d never understood his attraction to Aubrey. But now, with the memory of the sweet girl and the reality of the new woman in front of him, the two swirled into a delicious mix that made his mouth water and his cock thicken. Like whiskey and beer, the combination seemed as if it shouldn’t work.

  But oh, how it did.

  But something still seemed off to him, and that something had him holding back from simply climbing into the back of the van with her and covering her body with his own.

  “We should go inside and discuss your residency.” He tore his eyes away from the curves clad in tight denim and reminded himself that he was her preceptor. This was not appropriate.

  His glands screamed at him in response, and his hands actually twitched with the need to put them on her, to feel her skin.

  She simply blinked, continuing to watch him brazenly with that direct stare. He decided that that was what had him unnerved.

  The Aubrey Hart that he knew rarely made eye contact with anybody.

  “Come here.” He was completely taken aback at the words that left her mouth, and even more so at the subtle movement that accompanied them.

  As she spoke, she sat up slowly and at the same time opened her legs, just the slightest bit.

  There was no doubt in his mind as to what she was getting at. But he didn’t know how to respond.

  He wanted her. Oh, he absolutely did. This newfound brazenness that she was displaying all but made him drool. But at the same time, he was used to being the aggressor. The initiator. Part of him fought against the idea of being reeled in with suggestive body language and a sexy stare.

  Not to mention that he was her boss. Even if that fact was rapidly fading away.

  He found himself taking a step closer to the van—and Aubrey—and then one more.

  Could he do this? He wanted her so badly that he didn’t feel like he had a choice. Was it possible that she wanted him as much? Or was this some strange kind of power play?

  His cock pressed painfully against the zipper of his jeans, demanding an answer.

  He made up his mind.

  “No. You come here.”

  Chapter Two

  Aubrey was so thirsty that she could barely speak. But she managed to murmur assent over the thickness in her throat as she slithered down from the van and moved to where Gavin stood.

  This was it. She was about to make her first kill—in figurative terms, of course. She wouldn’t kill him, she’d simply wipe his memory after it was all done.

  But the thought of killing, of how very easily she could accidentally take his life, brought feelings from her old life foaming to the surface.

  This was Gavin. Dr. Thibodeau. The hard-assed preceptor who nonetheless had comforted her when she’d lost her first patient. The one who was always on her case to be better, because he knew she could be.

  The one with the smile that made her weak in the knees.

  If she could have walked away at that point, she would have. But she was too far gone, both with the thirst and with lust.

  She had to have him, and so she snugged her body up against his own. She could feel the outline of his arousal pressing against the flesh of her belly, and it pleased her immensely that she hadn’t yet had to use her new vampire allure.

  At least, she didn’t think she’d used it. Again, she couldn’t be sure.

  “Aubrey.” Her name falling from his lips sounded like a curse, and she savored it as well as the rich smell of his blood. She’d never heard him say her name before, not her first name. It had always been “Dr. Hart,” and it was usually barked at her in disgruntled tones.

  She shushed him, the soft shh slithering into the night. His frame was tense as she closed the last whisper of space between them, tense with what she thought was confusion.

  Tilting her head up, she let their gazes meet. She’d been intending to try using some of her new allure, but instead found herself feeling weak in the knees. Though she assured herself that it was just due to the hunger—though lust for Gavin made her hunger fade from the forefront of her mind, she was starving—in her gut she knew that it was likely because of the intensity in his icy-blue eyes.

  The roles had suddenly been reversed, and she found it ridiculously exciting as, in the time it would have taken to snap her fingers, Gavin clasped his strong hands at her waist, lifted her an inch off the ground and claimed her mouth with his own.

  The thirst grew exponentially, and at the same time was the furthest thing from her mind as she found herself being seduced, instead of the other way around. Gavin’s kiss—the first kiss she’d had in over two years—was hot and possessive. It had taken more convincing than she’d thought she’d need to get him here, but now that he’d acquiesced, she felt as if she was the one about to be taken.

  His tongue teased her lips until she parted them. It took conscious effort not to let her new fangs extend. She could have bitten him right then, she knew that, but lust was overpowering thirst. She wanted him, all of him, before she drank.

  She felt a twinge of unease at the thought of drinking from him now, of stealing his life force without his knowledge, but she shoved it away, pushed it down, and let herself be carried away by the rising tide of pleasure.

  Gavin slowly lowered her back to the ground, his hands sliding from her waist to splay over her back. He was hot against her flesh, which now tended to be cool. It wasn’t an unpleasant coolness, but the contrast of his heat was delicious.

  “Van,” she murmured against his lips. At his silence she drew back far enough to look at his face. He’d cocked an eyebrow in amusement at her bossiness, which she knew was a far cry from the woman she’d been before.

  Well, this Aubrey was just fine with saying what she wanted. She tugged backward, and with that same look of amusement on his face Gavin allowe
d himself to be pulled back toward his vehicle.

  The amusement was burned from his expression in a blast of heat when Aubrey hitched herself up so that her ass rested against the edge of the open van, just as she’d been earlier, and wrapped her legs around Gavin’s hips.

  They both exhaled at the contact, though Aubrey’s was an expression made of habit, not need for air. His now-rigid cock was pressed against her soft center, denim straining against denim.

  It was the moment of no return. She knew it and he knew it. Gavin’s breathing was ragged, and Aubrey went still with the intensity of the moment as they both contemplated what they were about to do.

  Then they lunged.

  Gavin laid her back on the floor of the van, her legs still wrapped tightly around his waist. As he leaned forward, Aubrey thought that her mouth was about to be claimed again, but instead Gavin placed the lightest of kisses on her lips, then on each cheekbone and her forehead. Just the slightest brush of lips, a butterfly touch.

  When he stared into her eyes she felt as if he could read all her secrets. She’d always felt like that, but now she actually had secrets. She squirmed—even though she was so thirsty, so full of need.

  The squirming only served to press their flesh together in interesting ways. Gavin hissed, and Aubrey closed her eyes and relished the sensation.

  Then she reached up and drew him down until he lay on top of her.

  She’d had enough of the play, of establishing dominance. She’d come here for a purpose, and she needed to recall Malcolm’s advice. Though she hadn’t heeded his warning, and had chosen to prey on someone she knew, she needed to finish what she’d come here for.

  Her morality was having issues with using him, but she assumed that she would get past the feelings. Malcolm hadn’t told her one way or another, but judging by him, vampires were selfish creatures who existed only to support their own needs and desires.

  Gavin moved his lips from her face and slid them down over the pulsing cord in her neck. She felt her fangs prick at her lower lip as she pictured doing the same to him, right before she bit.

  Not yet. Oh, not yet. She wanted more, much more from him first.

  His tongue flicked out and tasted the hollow in her collarbone then ran a seam over to the edge of her tight T-shirt. His lips stayed pressed there as his hand moved tentatively from the floor of the van, where it had been splayed, to toy with the hem of that same shirt.

  The old Aubrey would have frozen at the thought of Dr. Gavin Thibodeau running his hand up under her shirt. This Aubrey took her own hand and guided his hand up to cover the cotton of her bra, then moved her hand back to tangle with the other in his liquorice-black hair.

  She heard Gavin groan as his hand found the mound of her breast. She felt the sound vibrate through her.

  Tilting her head back, she let the white gold of her hair fall in a stream down her back. She rocked her hips forward, and Gavin’s hand squeezed in reflex, massaging the tender flesh of her breast.

  She couldn’t handle it anymore. Her new senses were clearer than they’d ever been, and every touch of Gavin’s fingers on her flesh made her skin sing. It caused need to churn greedily in her gut, and the cleft between her legs to pulse with heat.

  Moving her hands from his hair to his shoulders, she tugged at the long-sleeved black cotton that covered his torso. She meant to simply tug the shirt up and over his head, but her tug ripped the shirt in a jagged seam down the back. Gavin looked back, astonished.

  Making sure that her teeth were again fully retracted, she bared them like a predatory cat.

  After a long moment in which Gavin simply blinked at her, stunned, he grinned with his trademark sexy smile that had always driven her crazy.

  Then he took the hand covering her breast and moved it to the collar of her shirt. With another grin and a flash of his own teeth, he twisted his wrist until her own shirt split. Something dangerous seemed to pulse in the air, and Aubrey breathed in its darkness.

  She’d found a match for her new self here, though she never would have guessed it. Whatever she gave to Gavin, whatever she took, she knew that he would match it. It was a relief.

  She wouldn’t hurt him. She wasn’t sure that she could. He was just as strong as she, though he was still just a human.

  The hunt was on, and she was no longer completely certain that she was the predator and he the prey.

  Like animals mating, they clashed their bodies together. Aubrey pulled open the fly of Gavin’s jeans with one hand, pushing them down until all he wore were the tattered remains of his shirt. He undid the button of her denim with only slightly less speed, and as soon as the pants were past her hips he moved his kiss to her stomach and then down.

  Her panties were black cotton, simple and practical. But they felt like the most decadent of lingerie when Gavin took the side of them in his teeth and tugged until the flimsy fabric snapped.

  Aubrey felt the need begin to rise and coil in her veins when he moved his teeth, his lips to the hot, wet, needy area between her legs.

  He kissed her clit, and she nearly screamed at the contact. But instead, she bit her lip, tasted the blood and stayed as silent as he as he began to slowly stroke her with his tongue.

  If she’d still been the mousy Dr. Hart, she wouldn’t have been able to handle the situation. He clearly had some experience with this. But all she could do at the moment, all she wanted to do, was enjoy.

  An impending orgasm began to well up in her belly, making her muscles begin to shake. When Gavin saw that she was about to unravel, he slid his lips from between her legs and up her naked torso in one smooth movement.

  “Bastard.” She cussed at him in a heated whisper as the need receded the slightest bit.

  He leveled her with that cocky smile again, then pulled her bra down so that her breasts were bared to the night air and to his touch.

  His hot mouth sucked in her erect nipple to be teased with a circling tongue. She ran her fingers through his hair again, pulling at the thick strands when the sensations became too much to bear.

  When he crawled the rest of the way into the van, it put some momentary space between them. Aubrey took advantage of it by reaching between them and wrapping her fingers around his cock.

  He hissed in a breath, and Aubrey held in a chuckle as he struggled, clearly torn between enjoying the sensation of her fingers on his erection and closing the door behind them.

  Finally he wrenched himself away from her touch and, fumbling with the handle, pulled the door closed. The seats in the back of the vehicle had been removed, but even still it was close quarters.

  Aubrey liked it. There was no escaping.

  It seemed escaping was the last thing that Gavin had on his mind.

  “That wasn’t very nice of you,” he murmured into her ear as he flipped her over onto her stomach. She let him, both because she was curious and because something about the commanding way he spoke made her feel as if she had no choice.

  “What wasn’t? This?” Crawling to her knees, she pressed the globes of her ass into his pelvis, gasping at the feel of his erection as it brushed her skin.

  “Yes.” Gavin placed his hands on her shoulders, then slid them down her arms until his surgeon fingers braceleted her wrists. “That. Now I’ll have to teach you a lesson.”

  Aubrey was amused. He had no idea that she was past lessons. She was the one in control here, even if he didn’t know it.

  She was proven wrong when a moment later she found her hands bound together with some kind of cord.

  “Huh.” She assumed she could break the cord, could get free…if she wanted to.

  She found that she didn’t. She was under his control, just the control of his raw will.

  It was the hottest thing she’d ever encountered.

  Or the second hottest, s
he amended when her sight was suddenly gone. Soft cotton was wrapped around her eyes, and she concluded that he’d used his torn T-shirt as a blindfold.

  It smelled of him, was infused with him.

  With her sight and her ability to touch gone, the thirst again came to the forefront. It warred with the need for Gavin to stop teasing and to hilt himself inside her. She couldn’t have said which she wanted more.

  “There.” Gavin’s breath was hot as he whispered into her ear. “Now you’ll behave.”

  Aubrey would never have guessed that Gavin had a kinky streak.

  She never would have guessed that she did either. And she wasn’t about to admit how much she liked being restrained, being controlled.

  But she couldn’t hide her arousal when he bent her over the box that she’d moved earlier, then cupped her ass in his hands and squeezed.

  “Is this what you want, Aubrey?” She remained silent.

  But it was. This, and his blood.

  Then he pressed his cock against her entrance, and all she wanted was him.

  It was delicious torture to have him there, right where she wanted him, yet not. She rotated her hips, and felt him quiver against her in response.

  “Now.” He spoke as he thrust forward. She would have gasped had she needed to as he buried himself inside her tight, wet channel. She heard him hiss air in through his teeth as she closed around him, and when he began to move, she understood what it was like to be taken completely.

  She braced her knees on the rough rugs that covered the floor of his van, holding herself as still as she could so that he could move inside her with all his force. Being so physically restrained excited her, as did the knowledge that when it was all over she would bite, she would taste him in her mouth, down her throat.

  She only wished that he would enjoy it as much as she would.

  The tidal wave of the orgasm she’d been denied earlier began again to rise. They rocked together, his front pressed to her back, and she felt full for the first time since she’d been turned.

  She sensed that he was close to coming when his breath began to hitch and his thrusts became uneven. Though she could have ripped herself free, she began to struggle, just enough that he slowed his movement long enough to untie her wrists and remove her blindfold.